Happy new Year!!
We have had a great group of volunteers with us throughout the winter months, diligently digging and packing with a smile on their faces; a big thanks to them! We’ll be buying in veg for your shares soon… due to a series of strange weather early in the year, crops got in the ground late, so the hungry gap is hitting us earlier than usual. But never fear! We have all sorts of lovely leafy things coming out of the polytunnels, and we’ve already started sowing our Spring crops! The season is upon us! We’re excited to have two local trainees and two European trainees joining us from April, and now we have an opening from the YMCA, who will be funding a seasonal part time position from March. Look out for all the new faces arriving soon!
A big thanks to Bella, our winter Kickstart placement, who has worked hard throughout the darkest and hardest months of the year to be a farmer! Sadly she’ll be leaving us at the end of the month, but I expect we’ll see her on an exciting land-based
Hello from Eva!
Training by Tom
Building on the success of Cae Tan over the past 7 years, we secured a grant last year from Gower AONB to establish an online training course to share our knowledge across the UK. Uptake for the course was great and all spaces were filled to start last October. We have 5 English, 5 Scots and 5 Welsh people! I’ve been feeding the students information & homework on a weekly basis and we’ve been meeting 3 times a month online. During the online sessions I’ve been hosting and running elements of the course alongside a range of guest speakers. Ruth Evans has been a regular as she’s become a great source of knowledge in the finances of CSA. We plan to run some summer residential courses using the same materials. We’re also working in partnership with a group of farms and organisations on developing the second year of our all Wales horticultural training to skill-up 15 more Wales-based trainee growers this season. Plus at Cae Tan we’ll be running regular theory sessions alongside the practical work for our trainees. The pool of growers is growing…..
Education Update
Delivered by our education officer, Jessie Kidd, our outreach programme has been going from strength to strength. Supported by funding from Gower Power, Moondance, Austin Bailey Foundation and Swansea Council, Jessie delivers three distinct projects. The overarching aim of the programme is to reconnect young people and families with the land and their food, learn about regenerative food growing processes and be inspired into land based employment.
Seed to Plate – Working with 150 pupils across five schools, Jessie supports schools to grow their own pizza and soup ingredients. They learn about the importance of pollinators, the carbon footprint of food and have a magical trip to the farm.
Grow From Home – A collaborative, community growing project in Clase
With funding from the Food Poverty Grant we supported five families to build their own raised beds, install compost bins, water butts and grow some of the best produce in Swansea. We provided grower support throughout and celebrated with a harvest event with help from the Shared Plate. The project aims to teach simple growing techniques, address food poverty by providing accessible, fresh and nutritious produce and begin to build food resilience.
Graft Bach – A therapeutic play project for referred families with children under 5
Located in the beautiful Graft garden at the National Waterfront Museum, where Jessie was invited to start a new monthly outdoor play session. Following free play principles we focus on learning using the natural elements. We mould with clay, cook on the fire, sow seeds and play in the mud kitchen.
Cae Tan’s new Food Forest Project by Witchazel
We are embarking on an exciting new growing project at Furzefield! In conjunction with two partners – The Orchard Project and Social Farms & Gardens, we will be developing the existing growing plan for the site to include a food forest. The project will be designed and implemented by spring 2023 and there are plans for evaluation and monitoring beyond this. This is a fantastic opportunity for a groundbreaking project which we hope will inspire and demonstrate innovative growing techniques to other growers. Along with two other sister projects in Scotland, the project findings will be used by the Soil Association to feed into policy and government targets.
Our food forest at Cae Tan will be based on agroforestry principles – that essentially means we will be mixing trees with our existing farm scale crops. We have begun some initial planning and research and are considering three new growing systems. Firstly we are looking at alley cropping – growing fruit and nut trees in rows between our existing rotation beds. Secondly developing the Furzefield orchard into a forest garden with added fruiting shrubs, herbs and other perennial crops. Thirdly we are hoping to develop a foraging hedge area with Francesca. There are many benefits to mixing trees into our existing system – they will provide a windbreak, extra nutrients, increased biodiversity, extra crops and also resources. The forest garden and foraging hedge could provide a wealth of diverse perennial food crops, along with other potential yields such as medicinal or dye plants.
A key aim for Cae Tan is to involve members in the design and implementation of this project and hopefully set up some kind of “Fruit Share” type scheme managed by a group of members. So we are looking for a keen group of members to help us kick-start the project and develop the vision with us. There will also be other opportunities to be involved such as with planting days, management of the areas and further down the line, with harvesting. We hope this project will enable members to develop new skills and knowledge about perennial plants and fruit, in a variety of ways.
Any members who are interested in being involved in this project, please come along to a visioning meeting to find out more and have your say: Thursday 17th February 2022 6pm -6.45pm at the pick-up shed, Heritage Centre.
Update From Geoff
As many of you know Cae Tan has, for some years, been saving open-pollinated seed following on from the training received through the Gaia Foundation Seed Sovereignty program for the UK and Ireland in collaboration with Real Seeds in Newport, Pembrokeshire. This season we will be sowing the lettuce seed we’ve saved in the hope of contributing to the early salad harvest. We’ll be monitoring germination rates, seedling consistency etc. and hoping for satisfactory results. Surplus seed has been donated to two new local initiatives;
The Incredible Seed Library – Maggie Carr – incredibleseedlibrary@gmail.com
Swansea Community Farm Seed Library – Katharine Aylett
This season we plan on growing two more lettuce varieties, two Dwarf French Bean and Beetroot as seed crops. Seed Sovereignty forever!
Volunteer Geoff has been diligently seed-saving over the last few years, and we’re pleased to say most of our February sown early
salad will be thanks to him!
Blessing our orchard, thanks to Mags for the Wassail!
News from Francesca!
I have been growing salads for local businesses at the Furzhill site in Lunnon for the last 4 years. It has been a lot of fun and hard work. I have been lucky to have had the support and encouragement from Cae Tan to be able to do this and it would not have been possible to realise this dream without them. It now feels time to develop my ideas further and diversify. Together with my partner Will, we are going to set up a new Community Supported Agriculture Scheme called Bramble and Nettle. We will still be based at Furzhill but will no longer be part of Cae Tan. As you may have realised if you have met me or seen my patch at Lunnon, I have a passion for salad, all the colours, vibrancy, and health of them, so of course, this is going to be a major feature in the Bramble and Nettle Box. Will is studying Herbal Medicine, so he is going to bring his love of healing through herbs to the box where we will provide a variety of fresh herbal teas that we have grown. We are also interested in the health benefits of wild plants and want to incorporate a taste of these into the box. As well as all the salads and herbs, we will be growing many other healthy seasonal vegetables for the box, including tomatoes, spring onions and cucumbers, to brighten up the dinner plate. We will have volunteer days on a Tuesday, where we will be harvesting, gardening, and drinking herbal tea together. So that is our exciting plan for 2022. Please spread the word of what we are doing to anyone who would be interested in becoming a member or volunteering with Bramble and Nettle.
Recipe Idea Appeal!
We are looking to collate some recipe ideas that incorporate your Cae Tan veg, with the view to have enough for a whole cook book one day. It doesn’t need to be technical, it’s more for sharing ideas!
If you would like to contribute, please email: annacolclough@outlook.com
I am no Delia or Nigella, but here’s a basic recipe suggestion for some of the recent veg;
Winter Vegetable Curry
Ingredients:
Beetroot, squash, onion, potatoes, garlic, chickpeas, coconut milk, curry paste (or your chosen Spices), vegetable oil.
Method:
Wash and chop veg into desired sized chunks.
Parboil the potatoes and beetroot. Drain and set aside.
Add a little oil to a pan, add chopped garlic and onion. Gently fry until soft. Add curry paste or chosen spices, stir in the chickpeas, potatoes, beetroot and squash (leafy greens can be a tasty addition too). Add the coconut milk and mix thoroughly.
Cover and leave to simmer for approx. 30 minutes or until veg is soft. Season as desired.
An Update From Rob
Morriston CSA project is starting to take shape over 2022. During 2020 Cae Tan commissioned a feasibility study to look at how more CSA initiatives could be set up to benefit residents in the North and East of Swansea. As a result of the conversations and support that the original study prompted, the project has now found a 7.6 acre site close to Morriston which is on land owned by Swansea Bay University Health Board. Whilst the terms of the lease are still being prepared by the health board it has been agreed that the project will lease the land on a 10 year basis at a peppercorn rent.
This is a huge step for the project and the aim is to access the site in spring 2022 and spend the rest of the year developing the site ready for producing shares for households in the summer of 2023. Given the links with the health board this project has a real opportunity to develop ideas around how the CSA movement can work in partnership with health care providers to develop the health care and wellbeing benefits that CSA initiatives can provide.
Another key aim for the project is to provide access to urban communities in Swansea. The site is located right on the edge of the city with excellent transport links. It provides a real opportunity to access local food and outdoor volunteering opportunities for a diverse range of communities across the city.
REMINDER
Our volunteer days are every Wednesday and Thursday and
we’d love to see you there! Just contact us ahead of time so you know where we are.
Edited and collated by Eva and Anna- many thanks!
Save the date!
We’re going to have a Spring celebration on April 9th, get the date in the diary, more details to follow.